HARRISONBURG, VA (Rocktown Now) — The Harrisonburg City Council ratified the City Manager’s Declaration of Local Emergency during last night’s meeting. 

The declaration was in response to the winter weather storm that occurred in January, and the City Council was required under state law to ratify the declaration at its next regular meeting or at a special meeting within 45 days of the declaration. 

According to City Attorney Chris Brown, the original resolution included terminating the emergency declaration should it find that the emergency has subsided. 

“And again, at the time this was drafted, we anticipated the local emergency would be over, but apparently Mr. [Tom] Hartman still has many of his crews working overtime and is still hiring private contractors, I believe, to help try to clear the snow and the ice,” said Brown.

The Council unanimously approved continuing the declaration of local emergency until their next meeting.